Existing micro diskettes of the 3.5 inch type are manufactured with rectangular external jacket halves made of hard plastic, an inner magnetic media disk, nonwoven liner, liner lifter spring, spring-loaded metal shutter, read/write lock, and other components assembled to the walls of the plastic jacket. These micro diskettes are relatively expensive to manufacture due to the materials used in their construction (injection molded plastic, stainless steel, spring elements) and the rather complicated series of steps required for complete assembly. The hard plastic jacket also makes it costly and difficult to print high resolution graphics on the diskettes for labelling or advertising purposes, thereby requiring a further step of printing adhesive labels and applying them to the diskettes. Diskette jackets made of paper or other printable materials have been used for forming an envelope-type structure for floppy diskettes of the 5.25 inch type, but cannot be used suitably for micro diskettes of the 3.5 inch type.
It is therefore the principal object of this invention to provide an improved micro computer diskette which is constructed of inexpensive materials, is easy to fabricate and assemble, and can be printed directly with high resolution graphics. A further object of the invention is to provide a technology for manufacturing an improved micro computer diskette using a light-weight, foldable paperboard blank.